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We hopped on a short busride to San Juan with hopes of going to Parque Leoncito NW for land sailing on the dry desert plains but found out that the season for land sailing in Barreal is October - March 1. We were a month too late.

We woke up in Mendoza to find it dead on a Sunday, so went to 2 rather depressing museums and headed back to Maipu. One was the snake museum, and the other was an aquarium. The aquarium was falling into disrepair and the tortise in particular looked absolutely miserable.

The ride started with a great sunny view of the mountain. This horse literally walked up to Ryan as he snapped a photo.

Then Up up up! And then we blasted down to the Lujan Valley, another great wine tasting area full of the much older wineries, some as old as the late 1800´s. We didn´t stop to taste here as we had plans to do more tasting in Maipu the next couple of days.

We had a 11am reservation, so we got on the road by 9 am. The ride up the Valle de Uco presented us with stunning views of the mountains. Traffic was serene and quiet on the country roads lined with willows, poplars, and grapevines. This was beatiful country, and biking was the perfect way to indulge in it.

As we loaded up our bikes for this leg of the journey, Ryan hooked up his solar power, which we have found to be an excellent touring companion. It charges AA batteries, and if our stereo is out of juice, just plug it in, and it runs live off of solar power. Pretty awesome.

Another lazy day began as we knew we only needed to go 28 km downhill to San Rafael to stop there for a couple days in order for Ryan to catch up on web site work and to restock on supplies before another few days of dry, desolate riding North to Mendoza. When this happens a big breakfast is on order. Pancakes and eggs with Ryan's calafate berry syrup that we concocted in Patagonia.

The morning started off chilly and cloudy. What happened to the nice sunshine here? We looked down the see the river almost completely running dry, a stark contrast to the Class II rapids we had seen in the same spot the night before. Wow, the Argentine electricity demand really shifts things quickly here.